Reaching for Salvation or 12 4 12
Welcome in #12. There’s a cool little number thing happening with #12 on the Chronological Healing list. Officially #12 is dealing with the woman who had an issue of blood. You might remember the story from children’s church or maybe you’ve just read it recently. It’s found in three of the Gospels: Matt, Mark, & Luke. For the first entry I’m going with Mark’s account. Before we go on I better give you some background.
If you remember from the last healing Jesus was leaving the shores of Decapolis at the locals’ request. They freaked out a little because Jesus set straight the local menaces and a bunch of pigs decided to go cliff diving. Now we find Jesus and crew arriving on the west side of the Sea of Galilee. Read Legion Pt.1 & 2 if you don’t know what I’m talking about. Now, on the West shore is where we pick up this story. Let’s read Mark 5:21 and 25-34. I’m skipping a few scriptures in there because they are dealing with healing #13. Let’s read on.
Mark 5:21
When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake…25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
When prepping for this story I ran across a note in one of my study Bibles. This particular Bible is special to me. A friend gave it to me over 10 years ago. I love this Bible and the testimony behind it. Anyway, in this Bible are some left over side notes that my buddy wrote in the margins. Next to Mark 5:28 is written the word “Sozo.” Sozo is the Greek word from which we get the word salvation. Ok, looking at verse 28 in this study Bible the phrase “will be healed” is underlined. Sozo and “will be healed” don’t seem to go hand in hand. Time to do some research! Checking the Greek translation I found that, sure enough, the word Sozo is used in this verse. This is not the normal Greek word for being healed. Mark 1:34 states “and Jesus healed many who had various diseases.” The Greek word Mark used was Therapeuo which means to heal, cure, restore to health. It seems that word would have worked better in Mark 5:28. In Mark 1:42 the word Katharizo was used in the verse that states “Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.” That’s the NIV translation; it usually get’s the translation correct. Katharizo means to make clean or cleanse. I would assume that also would work better in Mark 5:28 because according to Leviticus Law this lady was unclean. But Mark didn’t use either of those two words; he used Sozo instead. Back to the Leviticus Law thing: in Lv 15:19 it states that “When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening.” It goes all the way down to verse 33 of Lv 15 stating that anything or anyone she touches becomes unclean. Now back to Mark 5:25 which states that this lady had 12 years of this uncleanness, 12 years of sickness. 12 YEARS! Mark 5:26 states “She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.” She had been poked and probed, she was broke financially, and she was lonely. So she didn’t need a cleansing; she didn’t need a healing; she needed salvation! The funny thing about the word Sozo is that it’s the same word recorded that Jesus used when was quoted in Mark 5:34. Jesus said: “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” Let’s mess with the translation a little bit. A little New King Jimmy style here.
Mark 5:28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be SAVED.”
Mark 5:34 Jesus says: “Daughter, your faith has SAVED you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
So for you, do you need a healing, a cleansing, or even salvation? I love what Mark 5:27 states: “When she heard about Jesus.” Have you heard about my Jesus? He still heals today, He still cleanses today; and He most definitely still SOZOs today. I meant to say He still saves today. All you need to do is just reach for Him.
Stay blessed y’all, it’s your choice.
jimmy
Oh wait a minute. The 12-4-12 thing. The short of it is she was sick for 12 years and this was the 12th Chronological healing. That’s kind of cool. Now stay blessed!!
No comments:
Post a Comment